1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to snow shovels and, more particularly, is concerned with a snow shoveling apparatus having a handle and a blade that are adjustable during movement of the apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The manual movement and removal of snow is necessary in many areas around the world. Snow shovels are often employed for this purpose. Many types of snow shovels with various designs have been developed over the years. It is often desirable to adjust snow shovels for use in different locations and by different users. Many of the prior art snow shovels have features which allow them to be adjusted at the blade and/or at the handle.
Representative examples of prior art snow shovels are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,460,560 to Williams, U.S. Pat. No. 2,653,397 to Butler, U.S. Pat. No. 2,715,786 to Dorko, U.S. Pat. No. 2,803,071 to Pochopien, U.S. Pat. No. 2,908,090 to Eifel, U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,081 to Middleton, U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,893 to Asay and U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,169 to Konsztowicz. Each of the patents to Butler, Dorko, Pochopien, Middleton and Asay discloses a mechanism for articulating a blade of a snow shovel between left and right positions. Each of the patents to Williams, Eifel and Konsztowicz discloses a mechanism for articulating a blade of a snow shovel between upward and downward positions or tilting the blade relative to a support frame of the snow shovel. The patent to Asay also discloses a handle of a snow shovel which may be adjusted in order to accommodate different heights of users or to obtain a certain mechanical advantage over the snow to be removed.
A problem exists, however, with these prior art snow shovels in that none of the above-mentioned patents appears to disclose a handle and a blade which can be easily adjusted while the snow shovel is being moved. Consequently, a need remains for an innovation which will overcome this problem without introducing any new problems in place thereof.
The present invention provides a snow shoveling apparatus that satisfies the aforementioned need. The snow shoveling apparatus of the present invention has a handle and a tool, such as a blade, which are adjustable independently of one another and during movement of the apparatus over a surface. Hereinafter, the manual pushing, lifting, casting and/or plowing of snow and other materials, such as gravel, soil and sand, for the sake of brevity will be referred to simply as snow shoveling and so it will be understood that the apparatus of the present invention is useful in the performance of any these activities.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a snow shoveling apparatus which comprises: (a) a mobile frame having an elongated base with opposite front and rear ends; (b) a handle; (c) means for mounting the handle to an intermediate portion of the base of the frame located between and spaced from the opposite front and rear ends thereof such that the handle can undergo pivotal movement between selected vertical angles relative to the base; (d) a handle angle adjustment mechanism having one component mounted to the handle and another component mounted adjacent to the intermediate portion of the base such that the components are adapted to undergo relative reciprocal movement between latched and unlatched positions so as to allow changing of the vertical angle of the handle relative to the base when the components are in the unlatched position and to hold the handle at a selected one of the vertical angles relative to the base when the components are in the latched position; (e) a tool; and (f) means for mounting the tool to the front end of the base of the frame.
The present invention also is directed to a snow shoveling apparatus which comprises: (a) a mobile frame having an elongated base with opposite front and rear ends; (b) a handle; (c) means for mounting the handle to an intermediate portion of the base located between and spaced from the opposite front and rear ends thereof; (d) a tool; (e) means for mounting the tool to the front end of the base such that the tool can undergo pivotal movement between selected horizontal angles relative to the base; and (f) a tool angle adjustment mechanism having one component mounted to the tool mounting means and another component mounted to the base forwardly of the intermediate portion thereof such that the components of the tool angle adjustment mechanism are adapted to undergo relative pivotal movement between locked and unlocked positions so as to allow changing of the horizontal angle of the tool relative to the base when the components are in the unlocked position and to hold the tool at a selected one of the horizontal angles relative to the base when the components are in the locked position.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described an illustrative embodiment of the invention.